This week was a busy week for most of our lab, but a slow week for the interns. Dissections of one cohort of rats took up Monday, and we were able to watch the procedure of sacrificing them and the whole dissection process. The rest of the week surgeries were done on rats. I got to watch two of these surgeries, the same surgery twice that is, and it was very interesting to see the delicate process. The surgeries were to instal catheters in 120 rats, the same rats that came in last week. In order to do this small pieces of tubing had to be put into a hole that was poked into the rats right jugular veins. This is basically something about twice as difficult as threading a needle with string, and it is happening with the potential cost of a rat’s life. It is needless to say that I was blown away with the skill of the surgery team.
Other than watching their work I was left with very little to help out with around the lab. There were no animals to run because they were either under the knife or had just been sacrificed, so next week will be my first time running animals for a little while. Next week is exciting because it will be the busiest week of the entire internship, it is also my last week which makes me feel a little bit bad for my lab. They will continue to be as busy as we will be next week for as much as a couple of months after we leave, but they will not have the help of several interns.
Outside of the lab I spent a few great days at the beach and went to La Jolla Cover. I also enjoyed some of the warmest weather we have had sense arriving.
Hopefully this last week doesn’t slip away too quickly. It has been amazing here so far and I don’t think I will forget it.
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